Project

For the majority of the semester, you will be working on your own projects, either:

• • 1 project (~10 weeks), broken into two parts; or,

  • 2 projects (~4-6 weeks each)

These will combine design with hardware and software components. 

Important dates 

purple indicates SA deadlines, more details below

• • pitch process

    • 90 second elevator pitch in class ~ Monday 2/16

    • written pitch document (1-2 pages) ~ Monday 2/23

    • written design document ~ Monday 2/23 or Tuesday 2/24

• part I ~ Monday 3/23 1:15 pm (your web site must be updated with a summary, photos, video at this time)

  • presentation (part I) ~ Tuesday 3/24 or Wednesday 3/25 

  • presentation (part II) ~ Monday 4/27

There will be 5 students paired with students from Rie Hachiyanagi's Art 390 class. The timeline for the collaboration is:

• week of 2/16: submit/present a more refined proposal 

  • CS: in the form of a 90 second elevator pitch (Mon 2/16)

  • SA: in the form of sketches (Tue|Thu 2/17|19)

• week of 2/23: submit a more detailed plan for how the project will be developed

  • one proposal will be submitted electronically by Tue 2/24, noon

    • this proposal should be a combination of writing and sketches (copied and scanned)

• week of 3/2: in-progress critique with Profs. Hachiyanagi and St. John

  • either Mon 3/2 or Wed 3/4, 4-5:15pm

• week of 3/23: present your finished project! 

  • presentation/critique Tuesday, March 24th 3:45-5:15PM, Room 302, Art.

Requirements

1. We will go over elevator pitch expectations during class the week of 2/9. 

2. Your pitch document should be an expanded written version of your elevator pitch with images that help convey the intent of the project.

3. Your design document should detail your plan for the project. This includes:

   • a list of components

     • you must incorporate:

       • sensors for input

       • actuators or other indicators for output

       • if any supplies must be purchased, you need a detailed budget along with links to product pages; amazon, adafruit and digikey are strongly preferred and have fast shipping times

       • you have a budget of about $50-60 (though you are welcome to supplement as you did not have to purchase a text!)

   • sketches of the final product (which might also appear in your pitch document)

     • sketches of the circuitry

     • a timeline with weekly (Wed) deadlines

       • this means you must break your project into 3-4 modules for each part

       • do your best to estimate your timing, though be sure to leave room for troubleshooting/debugging/seeking assistance

• 1. You must document your progress/status on your web site.

     1. This should be done at least weekly, but I encourage you strongly to update each time you work on your project. 

     2. Updates should be detailed, with pictures and video where applicable. 

     3. Be sure to document your failures as well as your successes. Learning from your mistakes is a huge part of this process and communicating the solutions is extremely important. 

        • For each bug, be sure to document:

          • hardware conditions that produce the bug (to the best of your knowledge)

          • any code associated with the bug

          • solution

        • Ideally, anyone reading your web site should be able to reproduce the bug and solution.

  2. You will present each part of your project. I have tentatively set dates, but these may need to shift as we get closer.

• • • For Part I, your presentation will be about 5-10 minutes, covering your design process and demonstration of your final product.

    • For Part II, your presentation will be 10-15 minutes; you should have a formal ppt along with a demonstration of your final product.

      • Your powerpoint should cover the design and development process as well as a reflection on the lessons learned during the course of the project work.

      • You should also reflect upon whether your project is a robot; if you feel it is not, what adaptations could be made to transform it into one?

        • For example, a washing machine is not a robot. But, what if it was mobile and collected your clothes before sorting and cleaning them?